A couple examines the rigging of the USCGS Eagle in Astoria, Ore. Thursday, June 12, 2008.

Nancy Cook and Zeti McKay stood at the highest spot in Astoria, looked down at the waterfront and picked out USCG Eagle’s masts. The new moms had hiked up to the Astoria Column carrying their baby girls, Izi Cook and Amelia McKay.

Every morning they listen to the Columbia River shipping report on their public radio station. Thursday, there’d been a live broadcast on Eagle’s arrival. In a community in which the Coast Guard is a proud and constant presence, the arrival of its oldest and most famous ship is a big deal.

People are just getting a grip on it, Cook said of the tall ship’s first visit to Astoria in nine years.

McKay was sure the patrons at her business, Coffee Girl Café, were sitting outside, looking down the river and planning visits to the barque. Heading back down the hill, McKay and Cook did their own planning.

“It’ll be the babies’ first time on a ship,” McKay said.

=> Read more!

The USCGC Eagle enters the Columbia river near Astoria, Ore. Thursday, June 12, 2008. The ship will moor at the city dock next to the maritime museum.

U.S.Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, half way between the Columbia Bar and Astoria's city dock, gave Robert Hutton a glorious start to his 41st birthday.

Hutton, of Cascade Locks, Ore., is spending a week at the coast. He just happened to be at Ft. Stevens as Eagle approached.

"It looks like it has big diesel engines," he said as Eagle motored toward him.

The American flag streamed over her stern.

Three Coast Guard rescue boats ran out to escort her in.

Around her, the people in 50 small boats were fishing for salmon.
Life's good on the coast. You can fish and get close to America's Tall Ship all before 9 a.m.

Gary and Jerrilyn French had been waiting, with cameras and binoculars, since 6:15 a.m.

"We're on our eighth year as campground hosts,"Jerrilyn said.

"We're with a group called Friends of Old Fort Stevens," Gary added.
The fort, he said, has guarded the mouth of the Columbia since the Civil War. The ditch behind them was once a moat.

Jerrilyn focused her 400mm lens on Eagle.

"This is just majestic," she said." It makes you feel proud of your country, very patriotic."

They'd read about Eagle's visit in The Daily Astorian, but did not know that she was heading to Victoria, B.C. and Tacoma for Tall Ships.

Kathleen Merryman and Joe Barrentine